1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a precision positioning device and, more particularly, the invention relates to a precision positioning device which provides nesting multi-stages (very coarse, coarse, fine, very fine, etc.), with each stage comprising a parallel kinematic machine (PKM).
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of precision applications require the ability to move quickly, over a large dynamic range, in several directions, while withstanding failures. Consider a high power telescope mounted on an aircraft. The telescope mount must move quickly to cancel the aircraft vibrations and track out the aircraft motion. For high power telescopes, it may need to maintain angular stability to nano-radian accuracy (billionths of a radian), and be able to continue this accuracy across a dynamic range of a radian. The telescope needs to rotate in at least two directions, and all six axes of motion affect image quality.